


The Gallows

by Almost_Star_Struck



Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Child Death, Execution, Gen, POV First Person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-16
Updated: 2015-08-16
Packaged: 2018-04-14 23:37:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 896
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4584528
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Almost_Star_Struck/pseuds/Almost_Star_Struck
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A short Oneshot of Federico's final thoughts before he was hung.</p><p>Not Betaed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Gallows

**Author's Note:**

> Wrote this like 4 years ago for DA and then Y!Gal.

Standing before the angry crowd, Federico found himself shivering in the crisp morning air. The bonds on his hands were tight, the thick rope bruising his wrists as the cord around his neck kept him standing on his toes. He shifted his weight, grunting as the cord tightened a bit and the wooden platform underneath his feet creaked loudly. Next to him, his father stood with his head held high, his eyes closed and posture solid and confident despite the people below them screaming for blood.  
  
On the farthest side stood Petruccio...God, his little brother looked so scared. His pudgy face was buried in his own chest as his shoulders shook, frail arms hanging limp behind his back as leaned forward in his noose.  
  
He was 13.... _merda, 13_!!  
  
"Mother..." he heard the young boy call out weakly, shaking his head slowly which caused the noose to catch hard under his chin. Federico's breath caught in his throat as he heard his baby brother gasp and whimper in pain. He lowered his own head, feeling sick to his stomach. His little brother needed to be in bed, not out here about to be hung for a crime that none of them committed.  
  
Finding his voice, Federico called out, "Spare, Petruccio, please! He's sick and he's a child!" The masked guard standing next to the silent Uberto blinked and sternly said, "Your entire family is guilty. As soon as we find your other brother, he too will be brought to justice."  
  
Federico shook his head. "That's a lie and you know it! They're innocent! Let them live,  _please_. Not my brothers..."  
  
Giovanni looked to his eldest son with sad brown eyes, "Ezio came through, I know he has done what we've asked. Uberto just has to present the papers and we'll be released. We will all get out of this, my son. Do not worry." Had he not been bound, he would have put his hand on his son's shoulder. Federico looked at his father and then Uberto before his eyes went to the crowd. That's when his gaze caught his younger brother forcing his way through the crowd.  
  
_"Ezio!"_  he yelled, lurching forward in his bonds. As soon as he called out his brother's name, the guards ran forward and restrained Ezio in the crowd, pushing his arms behind his back.  
  
"Let him through!" Giovanni yelled to Uberto. The judge shook his head and the banker could swear he saw a smile on the other man's face as he said, "Giovanni Auditore. You and your accomplices stand accused of the crime of treason. Have you any  _evidence_  to counter this charge?"  
  
The banker growled and gnashed his teeth as he watched Uberto's hand move toward the wooden lever at the end of the stage. "Yes, The documents that were delivered to  _you_  last night!"  
  
There was a dramatic pause that ripped through the crowd as they waited for Uberto to respond to this claim. Finally, the most powerful lawyer in all of Florence shook his head and stated, "I'm afraid I know nothing of these documents."  
  
Federico's eyes's widened.  _"He's lying!"_  he heard Ezio yell out from the crowd, three guards struggling to hold him back away from the stage where his family was about to be hung. Federico turned to see the last noose hanging empty and limp next to him, swaying slightly in the morning breeze. He looked back to his brother and screamed, "Run, Ezio! They will get you too!" He felt a cuff to the back of his neck at his outburst and he clenched his teeth, grunting.  
  
There was nothing he could do for Petruccio...God, his baby brother...but Ezio...the idiota just had to run away and he'd be spared this.  
  
Why wasn't he running!?  
  
Ezio continued to struggle forward, shouting to Uberto as he tried to reach his father and his brothers. "No, turn back!" Federico growled through his teeth. His chest clenched, hearing Petruccio begin to sob across the stage as Uberto read out their sentence.  
  
"In the absence of any compelling evidence, I am bound to pronounce you guilty. You and your collaborators are hereby sentenced to death."  
  
The crowd seemed to go silent for Federico. He could hear his youngest brother's sobs, the last breath of a child condemned to death for something he never had the chance of knowing let alone participating in. Petruccio would never have been an assassin, not like him or his father.  
  
Not like Ezio...  
  
Federico looked back to his little brother in the crowd. He could see the other's lips moving, but no sound reached his ears. The floorboards shook beneath him as his father screamed at Uberto, calling him a traitor as he twisted in his bonds and stamped his feet on the stage hard enough to rattle the wood.  
  
Ezio cried out to Federico as Uberto pulled the lever.  
  
_"It's a good life we live, brother."_  
  
Yes...it was...  
  
Their eyes connected just before the floor disappeared out from under Federico's feet. There was a brief feeling of weightlessness, but then he felt the cord pull taunt around his throat. Inhaling, he closed his eyes the second before his neck was broken by the pressure of the knotted coils.  
  
The crowd roared as the three bodies hung limply, swinging slightly back and forth on the ropes.


End file.
